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Connie Sedinger plays the clarinet with the New Horizons Band Thursday at Absolute Music in Reno. / Liz Margerum/Reno Gazette-Journal

JOIN TOGETHER WITH THE BAND

The Reno-Tahoe New Horizons Band will accept new members through Feb. 12.

No prior musical experience is required.

Practices are at Absolute Music, 6815 Sierra Center Parkway, No. 200.

The cost is $150 for a 15-week session.

Details: Absolute Music at 85-BANDS (852-2637).

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When it comes to learning music, John Mueller said there's not much difference between a 60-year-old and a kid.

"The biggest difference is that adults can focus," Mueller said. "If it's time to be quiet, they (adults) know how to do it, whereas your average child has trouble."

Mueller speaks from experience because he spends his days as the band and orchestra teacher at Incline Middle School, and he just formed the Reno-Tahoe New Horizons Band, a group designed to help older adults begin studying music.

"I'm doing it because this is really fun," he said. "You know, since I'm with kids all day long, it's fun being with adults. I can tell different jokes."

New Horizons, which is targeted at folks 50 and older but open to any adult, asks only that its members have an interest in music and the willingness to rent or buy an instrument and practice. The cost for the program is $150 for a 15-week session that includes instruction from Mueller.

Eventually, Mueller said, he might take a stipend for his time, but right now he is working for free and using the program fees to build a fund for the band. The group got its start just a few weeks ago, when about 30 people attended an informational meeting and decided to make music a part of their lives.

"They looked like sixth-graders walking out the door with their new instruments," Mueller said. "And they were really excited last week when they came in."

"I have a new appreciation for people who play," said 58-year-old Connie Sedinger of Reno. "It always looks so easy. But this is so fun. It's just so fun."

Sedinger decided to play the clarinet, and she said -- in a classic case of role reversal -- her 20-something children will be attending her concerts.

"My kids are really excited that I'm doing this," she said.

Absolute Music in Reno has donated rehearsal space to the band, which practices once a week. After only two sessions, the band is making its way through basic tunes like "Hot Cross Buns" and "Jingle Bells," and Mueller is pleased by the progress. At the end of his first 15-week session, he expects the group to be performing at a sixth-grade level. Then, he will advertise for more musicians with the hopes of running a beginning ensemble and advanced band at the same time.

"Once we have the advanced group," he said, "if somebody gets into the beginning group and they want to make rapid progress, they'll get to move into the advanced group quicker."

While some New Horizon players are new to music, others are returning to the field after a long hiatus. Fifty-four-year-old Neil Grad of Sparks said he used to be in bands at the University of California Los Angeles, and he's enjoying the opportunity to play again.

"I tried to put on my band shirt tonight and (realized) it was 35 years and 60 pounds ago," he said. "I've been wanting to do this for some time."

The Reno-Tahoe New Horizons Band is the latest chapter of a national organization that began in 1991 in Rochester, N.Y., and there now are dozens of groups located throughout the U.S. Along with the obvious artistic benefits, Mueller said he sees less tangible reasons for the program.

"They've found that there are all sorts of health benefits to this," he said. "Many retirees used their jobs as their socialization, and they stopped having their job and, all of a sudden, there's nobody to socialize with. Well, this is a way to socialize. There has even, in some bands, been marriages between players."